Q: How does it feel on the first day to get back in the mix of things?

TB: It feels great. I’m excited to be out here with my teammates and working to get better. It’s a long training camp. I think we’ve got to string a lot of good days together to be the team that we want to be. It’s just going to be a lot of effort, a lot of work. There’s no easy way about it. You’ve just got to grind, put the work in, listen to the coaches, try to make improvements, and hopefully when we start the season we’ll be a lot better of a team than we are now.

Q: Last year, you had a lot of guys out due to injury. What’s it like to have Rob Gronkowski back and working him in slowly?

TB: The more guys we have out here healthy, the better we’re going to be. Everyone is working with whatever situation they’re in. You could be coming off injury, [or] you could be coming off a good offseason. Everyone is starting at the same place. It’s the first opportunity to put shoulder pads on, and now the real physical aspect of the sport comes out. In the offseason, when it’s just shorts and tee shirts and you’re throwing the ball, it’s about a quarter of the game. So we’re going to see what we’re made of, and we’ve got a lot of big tests ahead.

Q: How much more energy is there out there with Rob Gronkowski out there?

TB: We always try to bring it, regardless of who is out there. If he’s not out there, then we still have to find a way to do it, and I think really that’s a lesson that we’ve learned. You’ve got to try to win, no matter who is out there. You’ve got to try to compete at a high level. When you have great players like that that are on the field, it helps you a lot. Your margin of error goes up. But you’ve got to prepare for both. We’ve had different times over the offseason where certain guys have been in there, certain guys haven’t, but I don’t think the expectations have changed. You’ve still got to go out and execute the play the best way you know how to and try to do it at a high level on a consistent basis.

Q: Last year, you had a lot of new guys on offense. Are the expectations higher now that those guys have been through a year? Are some of the mistakes they made no longer acceptable?

TB: It’s about making improvements, and I think it goes from the guys who are newest on the team to the guys who are oldest on the team. I don’t think you ever have it all figured out. You try to come out here and you work hard to put yourself in a good position and to compete, and when you get a chance and you get your opportunity, you’ve got to go out and make it happen. It’s really everybody. There’s nobody that’s immune to it. You’ve got to put the work in. You’ve got to give it everything you’ve got, and like I said, hopefully on a daily basis you continue to make improvements. This game is a very humbling game. You can’t ever think that you’ve got it all figured out. You’ve got to go out there and prove it every single day.

Q: Is there a lot of work to do to get used to this year’s offense as compared to other years? Are there a lot of changes?

TB: There is a lot of work. I don’t think there is ever a day you can take off, especially with the limited amount of practices we have. You’ve got to make them all count. You have to make the walk-throughs count, you have to make the practices count, you have to make the meetings count, and each one of them becomes more valuable the longer you get into the camp because you have less of them. There is really not a play that’s not important, or else we wouldn’t be doing it. I think that’s really a great point of emphasis that all the offensive coaches give us offensive players, that we can’t be error repeaters. We can’t make a mistake today, correct it and then come back and make it again tomorrow because then you’re never going anywhere. You just tread water.

Q: Talk about the competition you’re having with Darrelle Revis in practice and what it’s like having him on your team.

TB: He’s a great player. He challenges us, he challenges the receivers, and it’s nice to go against someone like that. We’ve had great corners here in the past, but he’s a great competitor. Having the chance to compete against him on another team, I certainly appreciate having him on our team.

Q: Can you believe this is your 15th training camp?

TB: It goes pretty fast, so I just think you appreciate it. There are very few people who have the opportunity that I have, and I’m very appreciative of it. You never know when the last one is going to be, so you just appreciate the moments that you have. Every year, it’s something different. This could be your last training camp; you never know. So you’ve got to make it count, and you can’t take anything for granted in the NFL. I try to do the best I can for this team and hope it leads to a great year.

Q: How excited do you get when Kenbrell Thompkins makes a couple great catches back-to-back like he did today at the end of practice?

TB: Yeah, he made some great plays. I think he’s certainly capable of it. It’s exciting for a quarterback when you see a guy make those types of efforts and lay out and catch the ball like he did. He’s been doing that since he got here, and he’s another guy who’s put a lot of work in and fought really hard. It’s fun to be out there with him. I have a lot of confidence in him, a lot of trust. He’s a great guy. It’s fun to be out there with him.

Q: What strides can Kenbrell make to help you in the passing game?

TB: He works his tail off, so I think that’s one of his best attributes. There is nothing that has ever been given to him, so it’s great to see a competitor like that. And when your guys make plays like that, it just elevates the rest of the team. Not every play are you going to be open by 10 yards. Sometimes you’ve got to lay out and make the play, and that’s how you get to be a great offense. The plays that maybe are a bit unexpected – if you make those, then it just elevates your whole team.

Q: How have you evolved as a leader over your time here? I’ve noticed you being vocal with a lot of guys during OTAs and here at practice.

TB: Communication is a really important part of the quarterback position. It’s how you communicate, and hopefully I can bring real positive leadership and energy to the team. If the quarterback won’t do it, then who else will? That’s kind of how I’ve always looked at it. It’s fun to be in this position. I don’t ever take it for granted. I appreciate the opportunities that I get. It’s a great group of guys most importantly. It’s the guys who really want to work hard and put the time in and have really made so much improvement over the time that they’ve been here. So you look at a guy like Julian [Edelman], who just continues to get better, and he’s another guy who has really fought his whole career. I’m proud of him and him coming back and getting another opportunity to work with him.

PATRIOTS DL VINCE WILFORK

MEDIA AVAILABILITY

July 24, 2014

Q: How do you feel?

VW: Feel good. Coming out here with the team and get one under our belt. We need it. Long ways to go, but at the same time it’s exciting to get back going. The season has started for us. We just have to put the work in now and grind; just keep your head down. It’s going to be a long season; it’s going to be a long camp. Hopefully we can put one foot in front of the other every day and just get better each day. That’s our goal – to get better each day.

Q: How’s the Achilles feel?

VW: I feel fine. Throughout all season and just working hard, I’m pretty sure there’s going to still be some stuff that I may need to do so, so far so good. I’m not looking back. I’m looking forward. I’m just excited to be here.

Q: What are you looking forward to most?

VW: Just playing; just playing. Being here with my teammates, getting another season up under your belt. We’re all blessed to play this game. I’m fortunate to be at this level, to play at this level, with this organization, my coaches [and] my teammates. I don’t take anything for granted. It’s just excitement. It’s just after practices, just getting the little stuff, little one-on-ones, it’s made me feel very good. I’m very happy today.

Q: How has your approach to this changed?

VW: It’s the same as always. Just come here [and] grind. I know camp is always tough. You have a lot of stuff going in, you have different people, different coaches, different times of the day that we’re doing this. We’re on pass; we’re working on the line. It’s always the grind. If you put your mindset that you’re just grinding each day and trying to get better each day then good things will happen. I did the same thing. This is the same thing I’m going to do every year. It’s to come here and prepare for the best. Hopefully we get better as a team and grow as a unit and grow as a team and do some good things. But it starts now. It’s going to take everyone – not just me or Tom [Brady] or the leaders. It’s going to take everyone – the practice squad guys, the guys that are free agents, first rounders. Whoever it may be, it’s going to take all of us, but it’s going to take hard work.

Q: Has your appreciation changed at all?

VW: I always appreciate the game, but being out last year, it just made me dwell on the things a little bit more and appreciate them a lot, lot more. You think about things a little differently now going through what I’ve been through – my first time being injured. It’s one of those things, I had a road block in the road and what am I going to do about it? With the teammates I have, with my coaches, with my family – that’s a big supporter of mine, my family – just having somebody that you can talk to every day, come and work out every day and have guys surrounding you and just being able to comfort you when times get tough. Just having someone to talk to, I think this team does a real good job of that. Everybody just sending you a text or a phone call or just coming to your house to see how you’re doing – it went a long ways for me, and I really appreciate it from everybody.

Q: Do you have any pain in your Achilles at all?

VW: I’m looking forward. Right now, I just feel good. I don’t know what’s going to happen further down the road but right now I feel good. I’m happy to be out here with my teammates.

Q: How do you feel about the additions to the defense?

VW: Everybody we have, our goal is to get better as a team and as a defense. The people that we brought in, we feel like they can help us. It’s not going to be any different from us. We have to grind. We all have to put the work in. That’s what camps are for – to bring the team together, compete at a high level. In eight or nine days, whatever it may be, we go on the road. But we have to take it one at a time. Right now we’re practicing against one another. We have to know how to practice and get in the stances and work the kinks out. That’s where we’re at. It’s just a start. We have a long ways to go and we understand that. But in order to get better, you have to put forth that effort. Today was the first day of putting forth that effort.

Q: How much do you relish the role of being a mentor to the guys like Dominique Easley and Zach Moore and the second-year players who were there when you got hurt?

VW: Those guys grew a lot, from the guys that stepped up last year and the guys that are coming in. Every year we try to make a smooth transition and be able to do a real good job of teaching guys how we play, how we do things around here. It won’t be hard for those guys to catch on. They’ve been doing a real good job; haven’t had any problems out of anybody. Everybody is excited. If you stay excited, good things will happen. We’re excited to get camp going. A lot of people, you can’t speak – probably in two more weeks I’ll say I’m ready for it to be over. But right now, we’re happy for the beginning. The season has begun so now it’s time for us to put the work in and become a better football team.

Q: How do you manage the expectations for this team?

VW: Do your job each day. Do your job and like I said, you come to work every day to prepare, to get better each day, you’ll be fine. Never get too high, never get too low, just manage expectations and put one foot in front of the other each day. Your goal is to get better. Help the team, help one another get better. That’s what we’ve been doing and we’re going to continue to do that. As long as we do that, we’ll be OK.

Q: Was it hard to sit and watch the defense struggle last year?

VW: No, I’m a big believer in the past is the past. I don’t dwell on the past; I can just tell you about now. Right now, it’s the start of camp and we’re all excited. There are things we can learn from the past, but at the same time, they’re things we just have to do better. Whatever it may be, and Bill knows what it is, but for us right now at the start of camp coming in, it’s ground zero. We had some camp in mini-camp, but now it’s training camp. Things are going a little bit more now. Soon we’ll be playing the first preseason game, and before you know it you’ll be headed to your third preseason game and the start of the season. Every day is critical for us to get better as a team. Not individuals, but as a team, we have to get better, and that’s always our goal. That’s one of the things we always talk about, taking things that we did in the classroom and coming out here and putting them on the field. Today was the start of that. If we continue to do that, I think we’ll be okay. If there are times that we don’t do that, when we come out here and we don’t do what we need to do, then it becomes a problem. So we try to minimize the problems.

Q: Have the other new pieces fit into the defense yet?

VW: I’m always excited to see how the team is going to shape up. That’s the start of camp. Everybody is excited; everybody is back. This is exciting to play the game that we all love. It’s a start.

Q: Do you feel like you need to re-prove yourself?

VW: I just have to prove I can come out and give my team what they need. That’s what I have to prove. Me as a person, I’ve never been a selfish player; I was a team player. If I wanted to be selfish, I could have been a shot putter. I’ve done that. I was a state champion shot putter, but it wasn’t my thing. My thing was to be with teammates, a good group of guys, and we’re all working toward one goal and that’s to be able to win and push one another. That’s why I chose football. For me to prove anything, no; I have to prove to my teammates they can trust me when the time is on the line. They have to do the same thing with me. It starts now. Camp is, that’s the platform for everything. If you can get a better football team in camp, you’ll be pretty decent.

Q: Fans are excited about this defense. Does that excitement make you feel better?

VW: I’ve had good defenses and I’ve had OK defenses and our goal always is to put the best team on the field. That’s what we’re going to do. Whatever it may be, I don’t care how we look on film, how we look on paper’; you have to be able to put it together on the field. The stepping stone from that is now: it’s camp. It’s the start of camp. You can’t look at last year, you can’t predict the future. You can go about now and what we’re going to do each day. This first practice is in the books. We’re going to go in and see things we did pretty well and things we probably didn’t do pretty well. At the end of the day it’s not good enough. We have a long way to go. I’m not going to sit here and say how great we’re going to be or how this person looks. No, it’s a building process and right now we’re in that building mode right now.

Q: Do you feel like you’re starting over again or you’re just picking up where you left off last year?

VW: Hopefully I’m picking up where I left off. I don’t know. Like I said, I try not to think about it. That’s me. The future, you never know what happens in the future. Like I said, I’m not going to dwell over the past. Right now I feel good, I’m practicing, I’m excited about being here and I’m going to keep that excitement.

Q: Do you feel any limitations?

VW: If I had limitations, I wouldn’t be practicing. Like I said, my job is to help my teammates the best way I can, whatever that may be. The only way for me to help my teammates is to be on the field and be healthy. Right now, I’m on the field and I’m healthy. If anything happens in the future, I can’t predict that. But right now my job is to help this team the best way I can and get better each day and that’s what I’m going to do.

Q: What does it mean for a defense to have guys like Will Smith and Darrelle Revis who have proven track records?

VW: Like I said, it really doesn’t matter at this point because it’s the start of camp. You know about everybody that we have on [the team], you mentioned them. But at the same time we have to be able to put it together. It starts in camp. Right now we’re trying to put it all together so we can gel together. That’s what camp is for is to build a team, build a defense, build your offense, the whole team coming together, when it’s time to play against one another, compete at a high level. I think we have guys that compete at a high level in practice. I think that’s one of the biggest things that’s going to help us as a team is when we come out and you see Tom Brady competing and getting pissed off that he threw an incomplete pass and you see Jerod Mayo or Darrelle Revis mad because somebody caught a pass, that’s competition. The young guys look at that and say, ‘You know what? For me to be successful in this league, I have to practice like that.’ We have a bunch of guys that lead by example because they don’t say much, they just go out and do it. Great group of guys but we have to put it together on the field. That’s the goal: put it together on the field. Today is the first day. We have a long way to go. Today was a good stepping stone for us. We’ll go in and watch film and see what happens after today.

Q: Are the expectations for this team not vocalized, but rather conveyed by example?

VW: I think some of your best leaders don’t need to talk. You take Tom [Brady] – however long he’s been in the league – you take [Darrelle] Revis, myself, Devin [McCourty] – we don’t talk a lot. We do a lot of talking in between the lines playing the game. Sometimes you have people learn vocally and some guys watch and learn visually. It’s good to have a mixture, but the way we do things, the coaches give us every bit of ammo we need coming in each day, competing and showing us film on what we need to do to get better. And just to take what we did in the classroom and come out and then go back in and say, ‘This is what we’re talking about,’ and understand what we’re trying to be. But it starts here on the field. It always starts on the field. It doesn’t start on paper. It starts on the field, getting dirty, grinding in and out, hurting. There are going to be times when you want to quit, and those are the times when you show your true character – who you are. When we’re in there on fourth-and-one and we’ve got to have it, or we’re backed up, who’s going to be the one to come out and play? It defines itself in these times here in camp. That’s where we’re at. [We’ve] got a long ways to go, but excited to be here.

PATRIOTS LB JEROD MAYO

MEDIA AVAILABILITY

July 24, 2014

Q: How was your time off and how did you spend it?

JM: It was good, I just chilled with the family, my wife is seven months pregnant now.

Q: What is the mood on the first day of how things have been going?

JM: Obviously, nothing has changed. We are trying to take it one day at a time and get better. We have some good players but at the same time we haven’t made any plays together as a group. So we are trying to build camaraderie during camp and the team will improve.

Q: How has the addition of both Brandon Browner and Darrelle Revis changed what you guys can do defensively?

JM: Honestly, it has been one day of practice out here. We have a lot of different schemes and plays to put in so ask me that in a couple of weeks and I’ll let you know.

Q: What are your impressions of James Anderson and just getting to know him personally as well, what does he bring to this team?

JM: He’s a cool guy; obviously he’s a veteran and has played a lot of football in this league so I can learn a lot from him. He comes to work every day and studies well in the classroom.

Q: What’s it like to have the addition of Revis and Browner and guys like that playing now?

JM: We really don’t know yet, we’ve had one practice and it’s early in the process. We are continuing to try to build the camaraderie on our defense, build the cohesiveness and put it all together.

Q: How tough is it to get that cohesiveness with so many injuries last year and now all of sudden everyone is back together and there are a lot of new faces?

JM: Every year is a different team, so you have to do that every training camp. Obviously we had a lot of injuries last year but it’s all about this year and the guys that we have now. It’s no different than any other year.

Q: What are some of the differences coming in as a rookie and coming in as a veteran to training camp?

JM: It’s been a long time since I’ve been a rookie. It’s not really that big of a difference. Obviously, it’s a little bit of a shock but at the same time everyone is out here fighting for a job. It doesn’t matter if this is your 10th year or your first year; we are all out here competing against each other trying to get better.

Q: What are your feelings about the first day out with everybody else in this setting?

JM: It’s always good to get back outside and play football. This is the game that we love to play. I love going out here with the guys and trying to get better each and every day. It’s a good feeling.

Q: Do you have any anticipations or expectations for the defense with the new guys coming back and the new signings?

JM: At this point we’ve only had one day of practice so we really don’t know what we’re capable of. We are taking it one day at a time and continuing to work towards our goal.

Q: How has Revis fit into the locker room so far?

JM: He’s good; he comes to work every day just like everyone else. He brings his hard hat in the classroom and on the field so it’s been good.

Q: Brandon Spikes in Buffalo has been saying some things in the offseason. Do you guys talk to him playfully in text messages?

JM: I still talk to him but at this time I can only care about the guys that are here right now. He’s obviously not here with us now, so ask me about any of the guys here that are on this team.

Q: How was it to watch the defense when you were out?

JM: It was tough to watch the games but at the same time I was pulling for those guys every week. I’m excited about being back out here now and I’m just happy to be here.

Q: Does this feel like an extension of minicamp at this point before Saturday when you put on the pads?

JM: Definitely. You can only do so much out here with no pads on. Saturday will be a good day but obviously we have some work to do tomorrow putting some plays in. Saturday will be fun.